


Lucky

by Ceares



Category: Entourage
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-10-28
Updated: 2008-10-28
Packaged: 2017-12-03 20:26:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/702308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ceares/pseuds/Ceares





	Lucky

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pocketfullof](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pocketfullof/gifts).



Even though there's plenty of room at the new house, Turtle spends most of the time at Johnny's. Vince's love life is par for the course, and this is possibly the longest E's gone without someone steady since he got to LA. More often than not now, it's just the two of them at the breakfast table, hanging out in the evenings reading scripts, trash talking over Madden at two a.m.

Vince plays a chef in a romantic comedy and he picks up enough of the basics that they stop eating out every night. He's not as fanatical as Johnny, but it turns out that he likes cooking. When he and E go grocery shopping, the cart is actually filled with more than cereal and beer now. It's not like he parties that hard when he's filming anyway, and if they wind up spending more nights in than out, he's not missing anything.

Guys night out, they catch the late showing of the new Max Payne movie at the AMC.  
They’re all silent while they get in the car. None them wants to comment. E breaks the silence first, tactful as always.

“Well, the special effects were good.”

Turtle snorts. “Yeah, what you could see.”

“Mark was okay, and Mila is hot.”

“Face it, Bro, it sucked.”

Vince shrugs. It wasn’t great, but he’s the last one to comment on someone else’s misstep after the Medellin mess, and he hopes it’s a hit for Mark anyway.

They hit Prey and they’re on their way to Plan B, when they run into Liz-beth, an heiress turned model turned 'actress' who’s been trying to get into Vince’s pants for a couple of years. She invites them to an after-party, and Vince is surprised to find that he’s really not that interested in going. E glances at him, but doesn't say anything; but, Turtle and Drama are falling over themselves to go, so they do, and it's really boring. He's ready to go after a couple of drinks and he ignores Liz-beth's attempts to get him upstairs and excuses himself. He finds the guys and tells them he's heading out. There's a look of relief on E's face.

"You guys stay though, and have a good time."

"Oh we will, Bro."

Turtle shakes his head. "Sheesh. The two of you are like an old married couple."

Vince laughs and E shoots the finger at him, and that's that.

But later that week, E's sitting on the counter, reading a script to him while he cooks and he scoops up a sample, offering E a taste; it's something he's seen Ma do a thousand times with his dad, and he realizes that Turtle's right. Except it's not anything like he thinks of marriage. Sharp and full of angles, even when it works, like with Ari and his wife, and worse when it doesn't like with his parents.

Sure, he and E have their moments--they can hit at each other as hard as anybody--but most of the time, being with E, with the guys is the easiest thing in the world. He admits though that what's going on is like some kind of weird platonic marriage and he waits to freak out, and he kind of freaks out when it doesn't happen. But only a little, because it's not really his style. Going with the flow is, and after a little bit, he has no problem going with this, and when Eric starts dating with his usual fervor-- Bonnie, a PA on Charlie's show--Vince thinks, good. He's sure the weirdness is going to stop now, only it doesn't.

They hang out together and he watches the two of them with a hollowness in the pit of his stomach that reminds of him the way he felt with Mandy. Still, he's not jealous so much as envious he thinks; and he thinks that maybe he just wants something like the way it is with E. Maybe he's just ready to settle down.

And Vince convinces himself pretty well. He stops avoiding the girls that have that air of wanting a serious relationship about them, and he winds up dating Carlotta for nearly four months. He breaks up with her when he finally accepts that he'd still rather spend the night at home with E than be with her, would rather do anything with E, because it's not something _like_ he had with E that he wants, it's E. He should be more surprised at how okay he is with that, but it's E. It feels like it was always there, and Vince thinks maybe it was and he just didn't see it. E and Bonnie are over soon after that and it's the two of them again.

Vince knows if he asks, he can have E, because E never really says no to him, but he doesn't want it to be because of that. He wants E to want, not just give. So he sits closer, drapes himself over E more. He ignores the pretty girls always there, eyes only on E when they go somewhere. He uses all his tricks, the voice, the eyes, the smile. And he waits for E to say something, to give him some kind of sign one way or another. Vince though, isn't the most patient guy in the world.

The first time he kisses Eric, it's in the elevator on the way up to Ari's office. It's quick, by necessity, and Eric has just leaned into him, mouth opening in shock or response--he can't quite tell--when the doors open and they jerk away from each other. Eric is flushed and distracted the whole meeting, darting confused glances at Vince and rubbing his hand across his mouth repeatedly. On the way down, it's Eric who pushes him against the wall, and there's no doubt about his response when Vince's mouth meets his.

 

9999999999

They’re together six months before they decide to tell anybody, and they spend another month arguing over the where, when and how. They still don’t agree, but Vince wins as usual.

Eric picks up the shirt off the bedroom floor, smelling it briefly before grimacing and tossing it in the hamper. "I still think it's a bad idea."

Vince is leaning out of the bathroom, toothbrush tucked into the corner of his mouth. "It'll work, trust me."

"You think everything will work."

"Come on E, with all of them there, they'll behave better."

Eric looks at him incredulously, and Vince stifles a grin. He knows E thinks he's genuinely delusional sometimes, but he just really, really believes in the power of positive thinking. It hasn't actually failed him yet.

Eric shrugs, and gives in like Vince knows he will. "Yeah, okay. I still say we should just send postcards from the Keys."

"What? Having a great time, wish you were here, by the way, E and I are  
fucking."

"Pretty much, yeah.”

"No way. That'd be pretty mean, E." Funny, but mean.

"Fine. I'm predicting a disaster though." He gives Vince a speculative look. "I'm willing to bet on it actually."

Vince laughs and comes out of the bathroom over to E. "Oh yeah? What are the stakes?"

"I win, you read the Shakespeare script."

He grimaces at that, because he's so not interested in dressing up in tights, but E loves the play, loves the script and maybe, Vince thinks has a secret tight fetish. "Fine, but if I win, you turn your cell off for a whole day when we get to the Keys."

"Deal. I get a bonus to be named later, if Ari actually strokes out over it."

"Same for me if one of them is actually happy for us right?"

Again that incredulous look as E shakes his head. "I'm so acing this."

The thing is, Vince knows that everything about him is high maintenance--his career, his family and friends, his personality--and sleeping with him doesn't make it any easier for E to manage. If anything, it makes it harder, adding another ball to the ones Eric is already juggling. Vince knows E is constantly afraid he's going to drop one, afraid he can't afford to. He doesn't want E to decide that being together is a liability. There's a part of him constantly holding his breath and hoping that E feels like he does, can see that belonging to each other in every way--is worth everything else.

 

9999999999

Dinner is fine, even after Turtle and Drama start their usual sniping at each other. They haven’t planned a particular moment to broach the subject but Vince is thinking that opening another bottle of wine first might be best. Unfortunately, Ari, as usual cuts straight to it.

"As amusing as the Abbott and Costello dinner show is Vinnie, I'm just wondering what the occasion is?"

Vince shrugs, his expression as innocent as he can make it. "What? We can't have you over for dinner without an ulterior motive?"

Shauna rolls her eyes. "Of course you can, Sweetie. Ari is just a suspicious fuck. "

"Suspicious enough to be nervous about the glances you and Mighty Mouse have been exchanging all night. Something is up."

Vince shoots E a pleading look, and Eric clears his throat. "Actually, Ari's right."

"Hah!"

"We invited you over to uh...Vince and me, we're you know, together."

"Together?"

"Like a couple--together."

There is dead silence in the room for a few blissful seconds, and then chaos. Eric meets Vince's eyes again across the table, the arch of his brow saying ‘I told you so’.

999999999

While it isn't the nuclear disaster Eric predicted, the yelling and accusations are enough to make Vince miss the last six months of lying and sneaking around. Everyone is much more mellow after Eric puts away the wine and pulls out the hard stuff, even Ari, who has a resigned expression on his face as he eyes the two of them.

"I don't suppose there's any chance that..."

"No!" Eric cuts him off. Vince is glad. He knows whatever is about to come out of Ari's mouth is guaranteed to piss E off and he doesn't want anything to disturb their peace just yet.

Ari shrugs. "Hey, I gotta try."

Vince leans in with a smile. "Look, tomorrow is about business. Tonight, this is for family."

That shuts even Ari up.

The silence is awkward for a little bit but then Shauna, being the sweetheart that she never wants to let on she is, asks about the play Vince is thinking about doing and that gives Ari something else to rant about. The tension drops a little until Turtle and Drama start betting on when everything started, and Vince says June at the same time E says August and they exchange a ' what the fuck' glance, before Ari says "Swear to God, if you start arguing about your anniversary, I'm breaking one of those bottles over there and slitting my own throat. "

 

9999999999

It's not till later that night, getting ready for bed that Eric brings it up. "You kissed me in August, Vince."

Vince is so used to Eric knowing what's best, usually before he does that he thinks he's kidding at first. E's confused look tells him he's not. "Come on, E. We were pre-dating."

"People don't do that, Vince."

"Sure, you know you like somebody and you test the waters and see if they like you back.”

"Okay, you don't do that."

He shrugs. "Normally, they like me or they don't. No big deal either way." He leans in and kisses Eric. "You were a big deal. I flirted with you for two months."

"You never told me any of that." He slips into his side of the bed. “Besides, Vin you’ve always flirted with me.”

Huh. "So when I kissed you?"

"I just went with it."

Vince stares at him. "Wow! I feel like our whole relationship has been built on a lie."

E shrugs. "Looks like. So, should we break up? It would make Ari happy."

Vince slides in under the covers and snuggles up to him, laying his head down on E's shoulder and draping an arm across his chest. "Um hum. I think thirty or forty years from now should do it."

Eric laughs and leans down to kiss him.

 

When Vince hooks up with E, all his rules fly out the window and he's happy to let them. That stuff about not being anybody's last? Bullshit. He can't think of anything he wants more now. Vince knows he's not a genius, but he's not dumb either, no matter what people might think, so he really doesn't get how he didn't know that he and E would be perfect together. He thinks at first that they wasted a lot of years, but then he thinks that maybe if they'd gotten together earlier, they'd have fucked it up--he'd have fucked it up. He can only be grateful that Kristin and Sloan and Mandy didn't stick--though maybe this was the reason they didn't. He doesn't know. All he does know is that it's great to be good, but it's better to be lucky.


End file.
